Being a Gay Professional Athlete Really Sucks: Ian McKellen

Glove-tap (that’s a hockey term) to Ian McKellen for highlighting how shitty it must be to be a gay professional athlete. Not that the star of Gods and Monsters and Richard III has a huge impact on the sporting community (though maybe Gandalf and Magneto do…), but in the wake of Welsh rugby Gareth Thomas coming out of the closet (because rugby is a barbarian’s game played by gentlemen, and soccer’s a gentleman’s game played by barbarians) it’s good to hear anyone in the public eye say things like the following…

When it comes to the business of simply being honest about who they are, some [gay athletes] become little shrinking violets because they’re afraid, probably, of being booed from the terraces, and that must be a horrible experience and shame on people who do it. But it ain’t [sic] going to stop someone being a fantastic footballer because they’re honest about their private lives, is it? I don’t believe so and the world is changing and sport, I’m afraid, is very slow to catch up.

McKellen’s comments are even more important when you consider the sad death of Justin Fashanu, still the only gay professional soccer player to come out while still playing. Fashanu was criticized by teammates and fans and was disowned by his brother. He committed suicide at age 37.

On the other side of the water, this list of out athletes in the big four North American sports is very short (let me know if I’m missing anyone)—and they all came out publicly after retirement: Billy Bean and Glenn Burke (baseball), John Amaechi (basketball), David Kopay, Roy Simmons and Esera Tuaolo (football). There are no current or former NHL hockey players who are publicly open about being gay, which is surprising given this survey, which actually found that 80% of NHL’ers would be fine with an out teammate, compared to 62% for baseball, 60% for basketball and 57% for football.

The closest thing to a gay hockey guy would have to be the son of Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, Brendan Burke. Now, for those of you who don’t know (which is probably 98% of you), Burke embodies the deeply masculine, gruff, boys-club aspect of hockey, an approach that celebrates grit, honor, truculence, and the willingness to fight at any time (disclosure: I also support these values in my hockey team). So for the old-school, pugilistic Burke to have an openly gay son was a hugestory in Canada. The best part was the grace, honesty and obvious love with which Burke handled the whole thing. It’s really kind of awesome and made me proud to be a Leafs fan. Just watch the video below: